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Tesla’s Battery strategy is in preparation for two of its most anticipated vehicles
Tesla has continued to attempt to improve its battery packs and cells despite being the industry leader in EV battery tech. Interestingly enough, the electric car company located in Silicon Valley has had some of the best vehicles in terms of EV range in the past ten years. While other car companies were struggling to equip their attempts at electric cars with 100 miles of usable range, Tesla was and has been pushing the envelope since the original Roadster in 2008.
But even though the company has facilitated several vehicles in its fleet to have over 300 miles of range, and one with over 400 miles, it hasn’t been enough to let Tesla’s battery engineers rest. Even though the Model S Long Range Plus configuration packs 402 miles of electric range, which is plenty for most drivers, Tesla has several cars in the works that pack considerably more range than that. These are also not your “run of the mill” EVs, either. They are the Tri-Motor Cybertruck and the next-gen Roadster.
Batteries are what drive an EV to be all that it can be. They are responsible for the range and the performance of the car, along with the motors and engineering of the chassis and body. However, battery tech is ultimately what decides if a vehicle is going to be a successful electric car or just another one to add to the list of underperforming automobiles.
The key to building a great electric car, like anything else, is starting at the foundation. When you want to make a great pizza, you start with great dough. When you want to make a great EV, you start with the battery cells.
The problem with batteries is that there are no two cells that are the same when the materials that are used within are concerned. Not only that, but sometimes the elements that make some batteries stable and help with energy density are controversial. This is the case with cobalt.
But before I go into a spiel about Tesla’s use of cobalt and how the company responsibly sources it, let’s stay on topic.
Tesla’s battery teams in Canada, led by Jeff Dahn at Dalhousie University, released a new paper this week that indicated an electrolyte solution could contribute to increased battery energy density, and could lead to an extended lifespan.
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The solution would be used to combat the effects of degradation, and would ultimately lead to a longer life span and increased energy density. Enter the Tri-Motor Cybertruck and Roadster.
Both of these cars have range ratings that are well above the Model S Long Range Plus variant. The Cybertruck’s Tri-Motor will have 500+ miles of range, and the Roadster will have 620 miles.
However, Tesla’s current cells are not capable of holding this amount of range. If the batteries are not capable of holding excessive amounts of energy density, they will not perform in the fashion that they were intended. Therefore, Tesla has to continue developing its cells to promote longer-range driving and a long lifespan.
Starting with the Cybertruck, which has an estimated range of “500+ miles,” according to Tesla’s website. Currently, Tesla does not have a battery pack released that is capable of that kind of range, so the batteries must improve. The Tri-Motor setup will certainly help with the towing capacity and acceleration. Still, the battery pack within the Cybertruck has to work efficiently to not only supply power to those motors, but it also has to maintain energy so it can keep range at a reasonable level.
With the Roadster, things are slightly different. This car will (more than likely) not be towing things or have excessive amounts of cargo in the back, so there isn’t as much involved with maintaining range through laborious work. However, it is one of the fastest cars ever made, and Elon Musk has said in the past that the range of the Roadster will be over 1,000 kilometers or 621 miles.
Ultimately, the development of Tesla’s cells has to continue to improve. Obviously, the battery packs for both of the vehicles that were talked about in this article will have battery packs that are larger than the 100 kWh packs that Tesla puts in the Performance variants of the Model S and Model X. But there is a chance that Tesla equips the Cybertruck and Roadster with smaller, more energy-dense batteries like the 2170 cells that are used in the Model 3 and Model Y.
Lucid’s reveal of the 517-mile range that their new EV, the Air, has, certainly must have lit a fire under the rear-ends of Tesla’s battery engineers. Tesla has had a reputation of being the EV company with the best range, and now that Lucid “technically” has the title for that, even though the car isn’t in production, Tesla will likely be gearing up for a takeback of that label.
Tesla’s battery strategy from here on out will be interesting considering other auto companies have proven they are capable of competing in terms of EV range. There is still the fact that Tesla is actually producing these cars on a massive scale and we know that the company’s cars can perform, we don’t know this about the other vehicles yet.
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Tesla’s Automatic Collision Evasion feature can be seen in one of the first owner videos of it in action.
Tesla owner Spencer (@scotsrule08) posted on Monday that the feature “worked flawlessly,” saying FSD reengaged itself just as he was about to hit a curb. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla’s AI team, shared the clip and wrote, “A guardian angel always looking out for you.”
The video arrives in the middle of a staged rollout. Tesla first shipped Automatic Collision Evasion with FSD (Supervised) v14.3.9 in software update 2026.27.6 earlier this month, which Teslarati covered as it reached cars. Update 2026.27.10, which began going out on September 19, carried the feature improvements with FSD v14.3.10, according to release notes tracked by Not a Tesla App. The newer 2026.27.11 build is now reaching another wave of vehicles.
The new Automatic Collision Evasion feature worked flawlessly! FSD reengaged itself just as I was about to hit a curb.
Kudos @Tesla_AI team! 👏 pic.twitter.com/Fbp15HhpL2
— Spencer (@scotsrule08) September 28, 2026
The feature only runs on HW4 vehicles, and it requires an active FSD purchase or subscription with both FSD (Supervised) and Automatic Emergency Braking enabled. HW3 owners receive FSD v14.2 Lite in the same updates, but that build does not include collision evasion.
Tesla’s release notes describe two triggers. The first is an imminent frontal collision that braking alone may not prevent, in which case the car can activate FSD to steer, brake or accelerate around the hazard. That scenario is limited to highways below 85 mph, with no pedestrians or cyclists detected and no slippery road surface. The second covers a driver who appears inattentive, such as reaching into the back seat, or who seems to have switched off FSD by accident. Spencer’s curb clip appears to fall into that second category.
Tesla plans big safety improvements for Full Self-Driving v15
Once the system takes over, the accelerator is muted and light brake input will not cancel the maneuver. Drivers need to apply firm, deliberate steering force to take back control, and the car chimes to hand control back once the danger has passed.
Elluswamy recently noted that earlier hazard prediction, faster reaction time and better collision avoidance would arrive with FSD v15, the next major version.
Tesla is delaying its event for the Roadster, moving it from this Thursday, October 1, to Thursday, October 15, due to unfavorable weather.
The company has said it has been tracking the weather for this Thursday closely with local meteorologists, and because the event can only be held outside, Tesla is making the call to delay it:
“We’ve been tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors, we’ve made the difficult decision to reschedule. New date is October 15. Additional details to follow.”
Roadster event update
We’ve been tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors, we’ve made the difficult decision to reschedule.
New date is October 15. Additional details to…
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 28, 2026
We are sure that this is bringing back PTSD for some Tesla fans, and we know it is not ideal, but this also reveals some things about the event. Tesla said that this can only be held outdoors, meaning it bodes well for the rumors that the vehicle could potentially hover.
Some believe that this was essentially confirmed by the FAA airspace restriction they were granted, but this could have been for a drone show or to keep drones from spying on the event.
Tesla Roadster is available for order once again following brief hold
The Roadster event has been long-awaited, and it is unfortunate that the weather is going to keep us all waiting a little bit longer.
The Tesla Roadster will be unveiled in Waco, Texas.
Elon Musk
SpaceX turned a heralding moment for Starship into its greatest
Starship reached orbit despite losing an engine, deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites on Flight 14.
SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit for the first time on Monday, and for a few nail-biting minutes it looked like it wouldn’t. During ascent on Flight 14, one of Ship 41’s six Raptor engines shut down early, and SpaceX’s livestream host Dan Huot told viewers the team had decided not to commit to orbit. Minutes later, after what Huot described as a lot of conversation in the control room, the final poll came back in favor, and a roughly 19 second burn of a single Raptor pushed the ship into orbit about 170 miles up.
The reversal matters because SpaceX had written the exit ramp into the mission plan. The company said it would only fire the orbital insertion burn if flight controllers confirmed enough backup hardware remained for the deorbit burn, a condition Teslarati laid out ahead of the flight. Losing an engine was exactly the scenario that rule was built for.
Pressing forward fits Elon Musk’s history. Falcon 1 failed three straight times before its fourth launch reached orbit in 2008, with SpaceX nearly out of money, and Starship was developed by flying prototypes until they broke. What changed this year SpaceX going public, and with $SPCX sliding below its IPO price in July when Flight 13 slipped, the short interest climbed significantly, as Teslarati reported at the time. A Starship potentially lost today with revenue generating next-gen Starlink satellites aboard would have landed directly on shareholders.
Splashdown confirmed. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on the first orbital flight of Starship! pic.twitter.com/urjmiwnvNl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2026
That pressure showed up after orbit. SpaceX cut a flight planned to last nearly 10 hours to about three, moving splashdown from west of Chile to the North Pacific near Hawaii. SpaceX gave no reason, though Musk said this month the company was being extremely cautious about debris risk. The single Raptor for deorbit worked, and Ship 41 completed its flip and landing burn before breaking apart in the water, an outcome SpaceX expected. Musk has structured SpaceX’s governance to shield long term bets from market pressure.
The payload is the bigger business story. Musk posted that all 26 Starlink V3 satellites deployed and are “operating nominally.” Each V3 is rated for about 1 Tbps of downlink and 160 Gbps of uplink, so this single launch adds roughly 26 Tbps, about 10 times what a Falcon 9 load of V2 Mini satellites adds. The V3 is too large for Falcon 9, making Starship the only vehicle that can build out the planned 100,000 satellite constellation, at up to 60 per flight once it reaches routine service. Unlike the 20 V3 units on Flight 13, which reentered on a suborbital path, these will raise their orbits and could begin serving customers within weeks and bring in hundreds of millions of additional dollars in projected Starlink revenue.
SpaceX has already begun winding down Falcon 9 Starlink launches from Florida in favor of Starship. Reported targets put Flight 15 as early as October 19, leaving about three weeks to diagnose Monday’s engine shutdown before the next orbital attempt.
Starship’s 14th flight is set to launch on Monday, Sept 28. The 75-minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. CT. Live coverage of the mission starts ~35 minutes before launch → https://t.co/uQKQvgaTmJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2026
Watch Tesla’s “guardian angel” FSD feature take over for collision evasion
Tesla Roadster event gets delayed due to unfavorable weather
